Believe it or not, the sensational kick Anthony Pettis used to floor Benson Henderson was inspired by the cult martial-arts classic, “Ong Bak.”

Pettis’ coach, Duke Roufus, said he’s played around with “old-school” Muay Thai techniques for several years, and the crazy kick that Pettis landed is just one such attack.

“I just believe in being creative,” Roufus today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “Anthony is a lifelong martial artist, and I’m a lifelong martial artist, and we’re just trying to keep evolving and blend it all together.”

Pettis (13-1 MMA, 5-1 WEC) landed the literally off-the-wall shot in the final moments of a headlining title bout with Henderson (12-2 MMA, 5-1 WEC) at WEC 53, the promotion’s final event, which took place Thursday at Jobing.com Arena in Henderson’s hometown of Glendale, Ariz. Moments after he regained his footing, he bounded onto the cage wall and used his right leg to spring off and kick Henderson in the face.

The force of the blow knocked Henderson on his back and prompted referee Herb Dean to close distance, though Pettis’ opponent survived until the final bell.

The champ, however, did not survive the title challenge when judges’ scorecards were read; Pettis took home a unanimous-decision victory and a spot in history as the last man to hold the WEC lightweight belt. He also earned a shot at the winner of an upcoming UFC lightweight title bout between champion Frankie Edgar and challenger Gray Maynard.

To top it all, he likely sparked the imaginations of millions of mixed martial artists on what’s possible inside the cage. That’s long been one of Roufus’ priorities for Pettis.

“I’ve been trying a bunch of different stuff,” he said. “Bringing out some of the old-school Muay Thai techniques where you climb up on people and land techniques. It’s using his athleticism and surprise attack, and being able to put different elements of the game together.”

Roufus said it’s not the first time he’s had one of his fighters use the cage for a springboard in a striking attack.

“You saw that at UFC 100 when Alan Belcher threw the ‘superman’ punch off the cage,” he said. “I’ve been working a lot of cage techniques. It’s just like when soccer changed. They started playing indoor soccer on hockey rinks. Kickboxing changes when you put it into that cage. There’s a lot of tactics you can employ.”

And Pettis needed to pull out all the stops going into that final round with Henderson. Roufus thought the round scores were 2-2 – or maybe even 1-3 – with Henderson in the lead. He urged Pettis to stay active and keep attacking.

But Roufus doesn’t think it was the kick that swayed judges toward Pettis – as amazing a move as it was.

“After that Alan Belcher debacle at UFC 100, I don’t trust the judges most of the time,” he said. “I don’t think it was the kick. It’s when he reversed Ben (on the ground) and was able to take control of the round from there.”

Words couldn’t describe the way Roufus felt when Pettis was announced the winner.

“I don’t train a lot of fighters in the big show, but the ones I do I’m so proud of,” he said. “Now the next question is, ‘Who’s next?’ They’re all like my children, so I want to get all my kids there.”

Of course, that question also applies to Pettis, who could meet either Edgar or Maynard sometime in 2011. Roufus hasn’t decided which is a better matchup for his fighter.

“We’ll assess that when we get home,” he said. “I’ve watched them, but I want to sit down before I answer the question.”

And probably catch a few winks of sleep, which he hasn’t done much of since Pettis won the belt.

But instead of partying with the team after the event, he stayed in his hotel room and reflected. (Another one of his fighters, Danny Downes, rebounded in a huge way from a debut loss when he bested Chinese import Tiequan Zhang on the event’s preliminary card.)

“I kind of soaked it all in,” Roufus said.

The trainer feels there’s still room for evolution in Pettis’ game, so who knows what crazy attacks we’ll see going into 2011.

“He’s happy he got the strap, but he wants to be a guy like Georges St-Pierre who’s constantly working on weaknesses,” Roufus said of Pettis. “He wants to be the best he can be.”

For complete coverage of WEC 53, stay tuned to the MMA Events section of MMAjunkie.com.